Health of hard anodized aluminum pots and pans  

Letter 28172

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I would like to know if food cooked in the hard anodized aluminum pots and pans leach any aluminum or other content into the food itself. I would appreciate a non-biased source of information.

Thank you,

Patricia Price
mother - Great Falls, Montana

There is a lot of controversy about aluminium pots and pans, but it is widely used in fizzy drink cans, so I would not be concerned about it. I know at one time aluminium was blamed for the onset of Alzheimers Disease, but the work that initially suggested it was found to be flawed because there had been a miscalculation in the aluminium levels. Aluminium has a major attribute in that it is technically a very reactive metal, but it readily reacts with moisture and air to form a tenacious oxide layer that seals the metal against virtually all common environments, thereby protecting the metal from further dissolution. Using aluminium as a pot to boil water does not change this basic property and it could be said it can enhance it! My only concern would be if you use an aluminium pot for continued boiling of very salty water, then the chloride ions could start to attack the aluminium and cause corrosion. But then again, why would you boil very salty water and use it as part of your food preparation? I am sure there will be literature on the web about the non-hazards and "hazards" of aluminium, but in my humble opinion, for what it is worth, there is no real problem.

Trevor Crichton R&D practical scientist - UK

Additional supporting info here (if you feel the FDA is impartial): http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/CONSUMER/CON00036.html

Jonathan Metz
- Detroit, Michigan

Thanks for the good link, Jonathan. Yes, I would expect the FDA to be impartial on the issue of aluminum vs. other pot materials, but hopelessly partial on the issue of whether we have too much or too little Federal regulation :-)

Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

I am very concerned about articles I have read about hard anodized aluminum pots and pans leaching aluminum into your foods. I have a Calphalon hard anodized aluminum set I have been using for at least 10 years. Should I be concerned for my family's health?

Cookie Wright
- Miami, Florida

Hi, Cookie. If you were reading these articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association [link is to product info at Amazon], or Nature, or Scientific American [link is to product info at Amazon], then you indeed should be concerned. But you are finding them on the Internet, and life is short, and I wouldn't spend any of it bothering with them. The "aluminum causes Alzeimer's" rumor is decades out of date, and the Alzeimer's Association gives it no credence:

" . . . The vast majority of mainstream scientists now believe that if aluminum plays any role at all in Alzheimer's, that role is small. . ."
". . . most mainstream health professionals believe, based on current knowledge, that exposure to aluminum is not a significant risk factor. Public health bodies sharing this conviction include the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Health Canada. . ."
" . . . Further, it is unlikely that people can significantly reduce their exposure to aluminum through such measures as avoiding aluminum-containing cookware, foil, beverage cans, medications and other products. . ."

We have several other threads on this subject, with letters 8962 and 22551 for starters if you want additional opinions. Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey